Support for Clarke

July 02, 2010, 10:23 PM GMT+0

Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke has been enjoying a wealth of positive sentiments on TellYouGov following his speech outlining plans for a radical reformation of the prison service. The Justice Secretary’s score, which was at 0 just 48 hours ago, now rests at a positive 73.

In his speech on June 29th, Mr Clarke announced that “just banging up more and more people for longer without actively seeking to change them is what you would expect of Victorian England”, and suggested more emphasis should be placed on community sentences and rehabilitation instead.

One TellYouGov user, or ‘tygger’, commenting on the Justice Secretary’s proposals, said that he was ‘glad to see him still making waves’, while another felt that Clarke ‘was surprisingly liberal for a Tory.’

However, one tygger wasn’t so pleased with the plans, saying that ‘the offenders [Clarke] doesn't want locked up are the ones who affect [those in] poorer areas most’ and another simply called the politicians ‘old and tired’. Indeed, the proposals have attracted criticism as they appear to contradict the traditional position of the Conservative party, which condemned Labour’s plans of short term sentences for criminals during its election campaign.

Despite such reservations, the general consensus among TellYouGov users is that sending fewer people to jail is a good plan. One tygger noted that he ‘really liked Ken Clarke’s idea’ while another called him ‘more financially intelligent than most politicians’.

Clarke’s volume score is now slowly decreasing, showing interest in his speech is waning, but this peak of approval and volume suggests that he may be making waves for some time yet – and TellYouGov will continue to monitor his score if and when he does.

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